Hello! Another update for you. Sorry for the wait!


The annual peace celebration between the Greek and Roman camps rolled around like it always did at the end of August. This year's, the twenty-first since the war, was taking place at Camp Half-Blood.

Attendance among the original half-bloods from the time of the war had dwindled over the past ten or so years as we'd all grown up, married, and had legacies of our own, though the campers younger than us had always made up for it in our absence. Not everyone went the route Annabeth and I did in keeping our kids in the dark for as long as possible. Chris and Clarisse had raised their boys, Riley and Cody, knowing everything from the start, as did Reyna and Aaron with Jacob, though living in New Rome as they did, that probably made more sense. Leo and Calypso had wavered in their decision, initially deciding to go the way we had but then changing their minds when the twins were about three. As Leo put it, "Finding out the way I did was traumatic enough. This way, the girls just know everything from the start and if I accidentally set myself on fire in front of them, it's no big deal." I supposed I couldn't argue with that logic.

Many of the rest of us tried to keep the little ones safe as long as possible. For some, this was harder than others. Piper and Jason, I knew, had multiple close calls with Isabella and Caleb before they both found out for themselves, and Lily, Travis and Katie's daughter, found out at a young age because of unfortunate timing on their part. We'd ourselves had the scare with Logan when he was just five, and he'd learned he was a legacy only about a year later.

No one said keeping the secret from the kids was easy, but the general consensus remained among us that ignorance was the safest route for them, if only for a while.

Because of this, however, it was difficult at times to make it to these celebrations each year, as reliable babysitters who could be trusted to watch children who were part god were in short supply. My mom and Paul had always been willing to watch our kids for us—Carly was with them now—but even we'd missed the yearly get-together more than once. As the legacies got older and gradually learned the truth for themselves, attendance became easier, though the half-bloods who'd been young, new campers when we'd all been graduating high school, faced the same challenges with their own children now. It was a relentless cycle, but somehow we all managed. It was something we'd gotten good at over the years.

Annabeth and I had arrived a few minutes ago and walked now past the Big House, our goal the dining pavilion, which had become the camp's de facto meeting spot for these occasions. We were a little early and the campers were still finishing up the day's activities. They would be joining the festivities shortly.

We passed by the arena on the way, drawing some smiles and even more stares from the campers we saw. Like it or not, everyone knew who we were, even twenty years later. Jake Benson, my now twenty-two year old half-brother and fellow son of Poseidon stood near the entrance, watching what I assumed was a practicing class inside. He still worked summers as a counselor. Jake was one of a few siblings I'd acquired since the Titan War ended and my dad apparently went back to fooling around with humans. We were still more of a rarity than the children of most other gods though, so I guess that made it slightly better. Very slightly.

As far as I knew, we numbered six so far. Jake was the eldest, second only to me, with more than sixteen years between us. We didn't see much of each other, but we did keep in touch.

He caught sight of us as we drew near and grinned, waving us over. I glanced at Annabeth, who smirked and changed course. "Your son is killing it!" he told us as we drew near.

"Which one?" I asked, stopping beside him and peering inside.

"Nick," he answered, even as I could now see for myself. Nicky stood in the center of the arena, sword in hand, facing two opponents and holding his own exceptionally well. He moved quickly but looked hardly tired at all, and his footwork was impeccable. "I've seriously never seen anything like him. It's only his second summer!"

Annabeth stood watching just to my right. "He looks like you," she said to me, pride in her tone.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised," Jake said wistfully, "knowing who his dad is. Seriously, as if you didn't already leave enough of a mark for the rest of us Poseidon kids to live up to. Figures, your kid would be a natural too." His tone didn't match his words. He sounded about as proud of his nephew as he could be. He was constantly amused at the abilities our kids seemed to innately possess. Logan was not the swordsman his brother was, but he'd showed a proficiency in controlling water when he'd first visited camp at six years old, and had been better at it than both Jake and Hannah, our half sister, both campers at the time. It frustrated Jake to no end back then, but it truly had been impressive. Nicholas had yet to show any real ability over water, but the only one who was bothered by that was Nicholas.

As we watched, he disarmed one opponent and then the other in quick succession. He ended with a sword in each hand, his and that of the half-blood he'd just disarmed—the other's had been flung ten feet from where they stood. He had one blade pointed at each camper's neck, his grip on each steady and sure. He looked exhilarated. His opponents were out of breath, even as they smiled. Amid the cheering of the rest of the sword class, Nicky lowered the swords and handed the borrowed blade back to it's owner while the other camper, a dark-haired girl at least a year his senior, trotted away to retrieve her own. Neither looked particularly surprised at having lost.

"See what I mean?" Jake asked, smiling widely, before he walked forward and addressed the campers. "Alright! Nick, that was excellent! Maggie and Grant, great work. Everyone, make sure you leave any borrowed armor and weapons in the bins by the door. Get showered. The feast starts in an hour."

The group of young half-bloods all dispersed, the sounds of chatting and clanging metal as armor was removed and blades put away filled the room. Annabeth and I were unseen by most of the kids right away, though Nicky, in turning away from the finished fight, caught sight of us. He smiled and ran over. "Did you see that?!" he demanded, stopping before us, "Jake said he wanted to give me a challenge and make me face two people, and I actually did it!"

Annabeth, smiling beside me, assured him that we did. "That was awesome, bud," I told him, holding my hand up, palm out. Nicky high-fived me, looking exceptionally pleased. After the struggles he'd faced with camp in the past, I was happy to see he seemed to have finally found a niche for himself.

"Are we going to the celebration?" he asked, his cheeks slightly flushed from either exertion or excitement.

"Yes," Annabeth told him, "But you need to go get ready first."

He smiled. "Okay."

"We'll meet you at the dining pavilion."

"'Kay," he said, and took off toward the showers, in the direction many of his classmates had already disappeared.

We turned to leave to head over ourselves. We were a little early, but I doubted we were the only ones. Jake was still across the arena by the bleachers, talking to a small group of campers who remained. I caught his eye and held up a hand. He waved back and called, "I'll catch you later!"

The dining pavilion was still pretty deserted. Most of the guests had yet to arrive, though we were assured the Romans were minutes away. Frank and Hazel, having come separate from the Roman contingent, were already seated there with the Rodriguez's and a handful of other half-bloods, most younger than us, who had gathered early. No one had seen us yet as we approached, and we were intercepted before we got close by an excited pink object. "Aunt Annabeth! Uncle Percy!" little Ivory Underwood cried, sprinting over with a smile splitting her face. She jumped up when she reached us and I caught her out of the air. Grover and Juniper's youngest was a year younger than Carly, but was only about half as big because she aged so much slower.

"Hey, Ivory," Annabeth said, kissing the little girl's cheek, "How are you?"

"Good!" the young nymph answered excitedly.

"Where are your parents?" I asked her.

"They're coming."

"Do they know you're out here?" Annabeth asked her. We knew from Grover that she liked to wander off on her own. Her escapades had resulted in more than one camp-wide search in the past. Ivory's smile was answer enough.

By now everyone in the pavilion was aware of our presence. I raised a hand in a wave, which was received with smiled and returned gestures by our waiting friends.

A familiar voice sounded from behind us, "Percy! Annabeth!" We turned in unison, Ivory still in my arms, to see Jason and Piper approaching with ten-year old Caleb walking between them. Their older daughter, Isabella, like our own boys, was probably around somewhere. Behind them trailed many more half-bloods, both current and former campers, some with families and some alone, while others still walked with friends. Among them I saw Leo and Calypso, each holding a twin's hand, and the Stolls. Travis and Katie, her abdomen swollen from the pregnancy that had surprised everyone, made their way past the cabins. Conner walked with them. He and Sarah, the clear-sighted mortal he had fallen for and eventually married had been separated for a while now. Their boys, Jacob and Joshua, were still young and stayed for now with their mom during camp get-togethers. Just rounding the crest of Half-Blood Hill was a huge crowd of demigods that I knew right away consisted of the Roman campers. Over the years, the numbers that travelled from New Rome had grown and now all but a few who stayed behind for guard duty showed up for the annual event.

Annabeth hugged Piper, Jason, and Caleb in turn. With Ivory still in my arms until I could return her to her parents, I just smiled. "How've you been?" Piper asked, smiling, a gentle hand on Caleb's back. He looked around with nervous excitement. The blonde-haired legacy had found out about the gods very late into the current camp session and, shy as he was, wasn't quite ready to join the ranks yet.

"Great," Annabeth answered, "What about you?"

"We've been good," Piper said. "Caleb's still getting used to everything," she said in a lower voice, "We're hoping tonight will help."

Annabeth nodded understandingly beside me. Caleb looked up at her and asked quietly, "Have you seen Izzie?"

"Not yet," she told him, "We saw Nick though. He should be coming soon. Logan and Izzie too." He nodded and looked away, around at the camp and the faces passing by. A few people clapped me on the back and smiled as they went. Others waved but didn't otherwise break away from ongoing conversation.

Jason grinned at me, nodding at Ivory. "Did you have another kid we don't know about?" he joked.

I laughed and Ivory joined in. "No!" she said, "Uncle Percy's just watching me!"

"Oh," Jason told her, like that explained everything, and then he smiled, breaking the charade. "How ya doing, Ivory?" he asked.

"Good!" she answered, elated.

Piper, beside Jason, glanced toward the pavilion. Campers in orange shirts were starting to make their way over. "I'm going to take Caleb in there. See if we can't find a familiar face his age. We'll see you guys later."

They walked away, leaving Jason standing next to Annabeth. He was soon preoccupied with Leo, who had reached us and, Esperanza at his side and Calypso half a step behind with Genevieve, slung an arm around each of them. "Hey strangers! What's up? You don't call, you don't write."

The son of Jupiter looked at him dubiously, "I IM'ed you last week."

"Yeah, I know," Leo laughed, "I missed you guys." He grinned at me, "Hey, Percy."

"What's up, man," I grinned back. Calypso had joined us. Ivory waved to the twins, who stood together between their parents, but she seemed perfectly content where she was and made no effort to get down with them. Esperanza and Genevieve waved back.

The Romans had reached us now. Most continued past toward the dining pavilion, but a few familiar faces smiled as they went. Reyna and Aaron walked by with Jacob. They were far away, carried along by the crowd, but they waved as they passed.

A voice broke through the throng, from the woods a ways behind us. "Ivory! Ivory Underwood!" I recognized the voice, worried as it sounded, and turned in time to see Juniper heading toward us, scanning the camp as she went. I knew when she caught sight of me with her daughter in my arms. Relief washed across her features and she rushed over. "Oh, thank gods you found her!"

"Well she found us, actually," I said, "I figured you might want her back."

"Oh, yes," she said, exhaling, "Thank you." She reached up and I put Ivory in her arms. "Ivy, you can't just run off without letting Daddy and me know," she told her daughter, "We've told you that!"

"Sorry, Mommy," the little girl replied, looking down. Juniper sighed, placing her on her feet and taking firm hold of her hand, "Anyway, hi!" she told us; Annabeth had come to stand next to me. The Valdez family and Jason, caught up in their own conversation now that we'd abandoned it, made their way toward the dining pavilion with the others now. "It's so good to see you." Juniper hugged both of us in turn while still keeping hold of Ivory's hand, "It's been so long."

Before either of us could reply, Grover came toward us from another direction. "Ivory!" he called frantically, searching faces, "Has anyone seen—Percy!" He changed course and trotted over, relief crossing his features, as it had on Juniper's, when he spotted his wife and youngest child standing next to us. "You found her!" he cried, looking at Juniper.

"Percy and Annabeth did," she told him.

"Thank you!" he told us, wide-eyed and then looked at his daughter. "Ivy, don't do that to me!"

"I just wanted to say hi," Ivory said quietly, looking down. Grover placed a hand lovingly on his daughter's head and sighed, apparently powerless to deny her that. He looked up at us again and smiled sheepishly.

Annabeth, smirking beside me, said, "Hi, Grover."

"Hi, Annabeth, Perce," he hugged her and then me, "It's been forever."

"I know," she said apologetically, "We have to get together more." He nodded agreement.

"How are the kids?" Juniper asked.

I smirked. "Carly's good. As for the boys, you might know better than we do."

"Not me," Juniper replied, "I don't get down here much. But Grover does."

"Yeah," the satyr said, "I see Nicky and Logan pretty often. They're so much like you guys. I couldn't be prouder of them if I tried." I smiled.

"Speaking of which," said Juniper, smiling at something behind us. I turned to see Logan walking toward us with another orange-clad camper. He broke away from him when they neared us and told him he'd see him later.

"Hey," I told him, wrapping him in a one-armed hug, which he returned. Annabeth, smiling, ran a hand through his ever-messy hair in a vain attempt to tame it. He put up with it for a second and then ducked out of the way.

"Have you seen your brother?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "Not since earlier." Campers were still making their way over from all around camp. Logan glanced toward the filling dining pavilion. "Are we going over there?" he asked.

"We probably should," I said, looking to the Underwoods, "You guys coming to the feast?"

Grover nodded and looked at Juniper, who nudged Ivory toward her father. "Take her over there," she told him, and then looking between us, said, "Jade and Aspen are still home. I have to go grab them."

She left to do so and the five of us started toward the gathering crowd. "How's everything been?" I asked Grover as we went. "The council still treating you well?"

"Yeah, actually. Things have been really good. We're finally making some leeway with our conservation efforts. And the kids are great. Jade's become goat-crazy all of a sudden though. And she's way too young." The look on his face made me laugh, as well as dread the day Carly became interested in boys.

We were right outside the dining pavilion when Nicky showed up. "Mom! Dad!" he called, sprinting toward us. We stopped and waited for him to catch up. His dark hair was sill wet from showering. "Hi, Uncle Grover," he said.

"Hey, Nick," Grover replied, "How was sword class?"

Nicky grinned. "Great."

The official start of the celebration wasn't for about another twenty minutes still, but the dining pavilion had filled up greatly. Most everyone, it seemed, was already there.

Our family sat down with most of our friends. Grover waited with Ivory until Juniper returned with sixteen-year old Jade and twelve-year old Aspen before joining us.

It was interesting to see so many of the legacies we'd known as babies now campers themselves. The next generation was growing up and, I had to admit, I felt the slightest bit old at the thought.

With just a few minutes before Chiron would make his annual welcome speech and the feast would officially begin, Logan and Nicky, seated to my right, were immersed in conversation with Isabella Grace and Lily Stoll, when a voice sounded from a few tables away. "Nick!"

With so many people and general cacophony inside the pavilion, few people overall seemed to notice or care, but Nicky looked up with the rest of us in time to see a small but familiar figure making her way quickly through the crowd toward him. And Nicholas Chase Jackson, who was normally so quiet and reserved, hastily stood up and untangled his legs from the picnic bench in time to catch Hannah Lawrence as she threw herself at him. He hugged her tightly. "You're here!" he said, sounding as surprised as he was thrilled, "You made it to camp!"

Hannah's answering smile was huge. "Yeah, I got there two weeks ago. I was going to write you a letter but I found out we were coming here and I wanted to surprise you."

"It worked," Nicky laughed, "I missed you."

She smiled, "I missed you too." She looked at Annabeth and me then. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson."

"Hi, Hannah," Annabeth replied, smiling, "How do you like Camp Jupiter?"

"Oh, I love it," she said excitedly, "I've learned so much. More than even Lupa taught me!" Her excitement was contagious.

"It's good to see you, kiddo," I told her, still sitting and looking slightly up at her.

Hannah looked at me for a second and then moved forward and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Thank you," she told me, and I knew she meant for way more than just being glad of her presence.

"You're welcome," I told her and let her go. She was still smiling. Nicky made room for her on the bench we were sitting on and Hannah sat happily down next to him in time for Chiron's welcome speech. I knew from the various looks we received from our friends who had witnessed the whole thing that explanations were in order for once dinner was served.


Thanks for reading!

I am working on some new one-shots, which you should hopefully be seeing pretty soon. Be on the lookout!